Bearing construction for vacuum-cleaner brushes and the like



March 27, 1928. 4 1,664,218 H. T. LANG BEARING CONSTRUCTION FOR VACUUM CLEANER BRUSHES AND THE'LIKE Filed June 30, 1925 1 II/Ill] iiiiii I Inventor? Hem T Lang, y M

His Attorney.

Patented Mar; 27, 1928.

UNITED PATENT OFFICE.

HENRY '1. LANG, or CLEVELAND, omo, assrenon T nnne'rnre vacuum CLEANER eommmr, Inc, or cLEvnLANn, 01:10, A eonnoaarron on NEW yoax.

BEARING CONSTRUCTION FOR VACUUM-CLEANER BRUSHES AND THE LIKE. v

Application filed June 30, 1925. Serial No. 40,662.

v This application is a continuation in part of'my application, Serial No. 667,066, led October 6, 1923, a

In connection with vacuum cleaners hav- 6 ing brushes in their nozzles which brushes are usually driven from the motor which drives the suction fan, trouble is oftcn experienced due to dirt and grit getting into the bearings which may cause themto some,

thus damaging the bearing and causlng annoyance to the user. I Also, with such constructions trouble is sometimes experienced due to material wrapping around the brush shaft adjacent to the bearings and stalling the brush.

The primary object of the present invention is torovide an improved bearing construction or a vacuum cleaner brush or the like which is so' constructed and arranged that dirt and grit cannot get into it and which on its outside resents a contour such that material is not hkely to wrap around it and stall the brush. A further object of the I invention is to provide a construction which after being initially lubricated will not again require lubrication for avery long time.

For a consideration of what I believe to be novel and my invention, attention is directed to the accompanying description and the claims appended thereto.

' In the drawing, Figure 1 is a front view,

partly in section, of a vacuum cleaner having a brush equipped with bearings embodying my inventionyFig. 2 is'a sectional view on a larger scale of the improved bearing construction; Fig. 3 is a detail end View of the brush supporting means and Figs. 4., 5 and 6 are sectional detail views of modifications.

Referring to the drawing, 5 indicates a vacuum cleaner having a nozzle 6 in which is mounted a brush 7 The brush is supported at its ends by stub shafts 8 which are heldin slots 9 in a disk 10 by means of spring fingers 11, the disks being suitably fixed to the end walls of nozzle 6 by screws 115. It is driven by a belt 12 which runs on a pulley 13 on the brush and a pulley 14 onthe end of shaft 15 of the motor which operates the fan of the vacuum cleaner. The construction so far de scribed is a known one and is to be taken as typical of any suitable vacuum cleaner structure.-

Referring now to particularly to Fig. 2, at each end of the brush cylinder 16, which in the present instance is shown as being constructed of wood,-I provide a bearing' stud 17 which has knurled or roughened end 18 and a. shoulder 19. Stud 17 is formed integral with a socket 20 in which the end of cylinder 16 is fastened. Surrounding stud 17 is a .hcarino housing 21 provided with an outer guard comprising'a radial wall 25, an axially extending wall 25 and an inturnedfiange 25*. Walls 24 and 25 are concentric and standin spaced relation to each other, roviding between them an annular chain er. In this chamber is arranged a packing means 27 which packs against the adjacent surfaces of walls 24 and 25 The packing means may be of any suitable character, it being shown in the present instance as comprising a felt washer. It is held in place by inturned wall 25. This forms a dust guard which prevents dirt or grit working into housing 21. In housing 21 is a bearing 28 here shown as a ball bearing. Its outer race 29 fits tightly in housing 21 so it is held from turning and it is spaced from the end of the housing by a washer 30. The inner race 31 of the bearin is fixed on the roughened end 18 of stud 1 and is positioned in spaced relation to collar 23 by shoulder 19. In the space between the inner end of the bearing and collar 23 is arranged an oil guard comprising an annular metallic housing 32 which opens toward stud 17. In housing 32 is a packingmeans 33 which packs against the outer surface of stud 17 at its inner end. Packing means 33 may be in the form of oneor more felt washers. The bearinghousing 21, the ball bearing 28, the oil guard comprising housing 32 and packing 33, and the dust guard comprising the walls which form chamber 26 and packing 27 are assembled as a unit and form a complete unitary bearing structure which may be applied to a brush by forcing the i outer end 18 of stud 17 into the opening of inner race 31. This serves to permanently attach the ball bearing structure to the brush,

forming a permanent part of the brush structure. When the brush is assembled in the cleaner, stub shafts 8 are held from turning in slots '9 by the spring fingers 11 which 'the' two bearingsjat the end of the brush thus I in j means that ball bearing housing 21 and the outer ball bearing race 29 are Stationary. The inner ball bearing race 31 turns with the brush. When the ball bearing is assembledin housing 2l,it is packed in lubricant and this lubricant is'retained by the guard packing 33. A fairly heavy grade of grease s used and I have found that with this arrangement the original'grease will last practically for the life of the cleaner. This is of great advantage in a household device such as a vacuum cleaner, for it means that the guard and thence past the oil guard packing 33. As a result the bearing is efiiciently protected from dust and grit. The bearing housing and parts connected therewith are stationary, the brush cylinder 16 turning in them, and it will be noted that' between the stationary and moving. parts there are no spaces or crevlces withm which a material may become wound or embedded thereby stalling the brush.

As will be seen from Fig. 2, the dust guard comprising packing or sealing means 27 is located in radially-spaced relation to the adjacent walls'of bearing housing 21 and brush cylinder 16.'there' being thus provided shoulders A and B, as is indicated in Fig. 2,

which space the packing or sealing means and itsseams from the adjacent surfaces of the bearing housing 21 and cylinder 16.

When picking up hair, string, or similar material, the tendency is always for it to' wrap around the parts of smaller diameter, and in the present instance this will be the brush cylinder and the bearing housing. In

doing this, however, by reason of the fact that the packing means 27 is spaced radially from these surfaces. the material will not reach. out to the packingseams between the.

relatively rotating parts and will not become wound up directly adjacent to them where itmight cause binding. In other words.

.such material at most, will; wind around against shoulders A and "B. The location-of the packing means and the surfaces between which it is placed in radial spaced relationto the adjacent surfaces of the brush structure, therefore, is of material assistance in preventing hair, string, thread 'and similar material from finding its way into the seams between the relatively moving parts.

In Fig. 4 I have shown an embodiment of my invention wherein the packingmean's 27 corresponding to picking means 27 of Fig. 2, packs against the surface of socket 20, the packing means beingiheld in an annular chamber formed by collar 23, forwardly projectingflange 24 and the cupshaped end guard 25. I

In Fig.5 is shown an arrangement similar to that shown in Fig. 4 except that there has been added thereto athread guard 34 in the form of curved wall which extends partly over and encloses somewhat the packing chamber. This guard protects the seam at C between the inner edge ofthe packin stnucture and the surface of 4 the. brus structure, preventing threads, hair, string or similar material from finding its way into the seam.

In Fig. 6 is shown an arrangement similar to that shown'in Fig. 4 except that a raised surface 35 is provided against which the packing rubs. Thisprovides a shoulder 36 which corresponds to the shoulder B of Fig. 2, and serves to prevent hair and similar material from getting into the seam between the relatively rotating surfaces.

In accordance wi h the; provisions of the patent statutes, I have described the principle of operation of my invention, together with structures which I now consider to. represent the best embodiments thereof, but I desire to have it understood that the structures shown are only illus ative and that the invention may be car i ed out by other means. v Y 7 What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, 1s:

1. 'A bearing structure for vacuum cleaner I brushes and thelike, said'structure comprising a housing having a: closed end, .a bearing 'COiIlPl'lSiIlg an inner race and an outer race mounted in the-housing, a rotatable member having a stud on its end'which stud is fastened to-the inner race of the bearin and packing means held in position by sai housing which pack against said. stud and against a surface of said rotatable member to prevent lubricant finding its way out of the bearing and foreign matter finding its way H into the bearing.

2. A bearingstructure for vacuum cleaner brushes and the like, said structure comprising a hqusinghaving a closedend, a bearing comprismgan inner race and an outerrace .mounted in the housing, a cylinder having a stud on its end which stud is fastened to the inner bearing race, packingmeans locat-'- ed between the end of said cylinder and the bearing to prevent lubricant leaking out. I i

of the bearing, and packing-means located between a surface of the-housing and a sur- 7 face which forms apart of said cylinder to prevent foreign matter from its way to thebearing.

3. Abearing. structure brushes and the like, said structures comfor vacuum cleaner gising a housing having a closed end, a aring comprisin an inner race and an outer race mounte in the housing, a cylinder having a stud on its end which stud is fastened to the inner bearing race, packing means located between the end of said cylinder and the bearing to revent lubricant leaking out of the bearing, and packing means located between a surface of the hous- 

